Liberia: Authorities reaffirm their determination to dismantle drug networks
Drugs in Liberia
Ayman Ragab
Liberian President Joseph Boakai announced on Tuesday that he had ordered an investigation after a large quantity of cocaine was seized at the capital Monrovia's airport, and said he was "determined to destroy drug trafficking networks" in the country.
President Boakai addressed the nation Tuesday evening following the seizure of 237.6 kilograms of cocaine worth more than $19 million in mid-June, one of the largest seizures in the country's history, he said.
Drug networks in Mali
In Senegal, another West African country, customs officials announced on Tuesday a record seizure on Monday of 970.6 kilograms of cocaine in the center of the country.
The drugs were hidden in a truck carrying fruit from a “neighboring” country that was not identified in the statement.
Mr. Boakai said: “Liberia will not be a safe haven, transit point, warehouse, financial center, or base of operations for criminal networks involved in drug trafficking.”.
He continued, saying: “We are determined to uncover and destroy the networks that finance, coordinate, facilitate, and profit from this criminal activity” of drug trafficking.
No one is exempt.
He stressed that the investigation, coordinated by the National Drug Enforcement Agency, will not exclude any person or institution involved, until “anyone fully responsible” in Liberia or abroad is brought to justice.
In neighboring Sierra Leone, the opposition leader in Sierra Leone’s parliament, Abdullahi Kargbo, expressed his “deep concern” in early May about several cases that “link” the country to “international drug trafficking and organized criminal networks,” in an open letter to the president.
His open letter came after a record seizure on May 7 by Spanish police of 30 tons of cocaine worth 812 million euros, as well as “firearms”, on board a boat that left Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
The presence of Joss Ledgekers, one of Europe’s most wanted drug traffickers, in Sierra Leone for more than a year has raised many questions about his ties to the government.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), a Swiss non-governmental organization, indicates that West Africa is “a region that serves as a link for international cocaine trafficking between producing countries in Latin America and consuming countries in Europe.”.
